Chapter 11 - 『Mabel's New Suitor』 part 2
Once again it was a slow day at the Mystery Shack, since people in Gravity Falls were more interested in the new town's idol Gideon. It hadn't been more than one day and there were already pictures of Mabel in the newspaper and magazines proclaiming her to be Gideon's Girlfriend.
'They should've taken these yesterday when Gideon visit for the first time.' Joseph thought as he put this yellow press crap away.
Currently he was on a break, lounging around in the Gift Shop with Soos, Dipper and Wendy, who brought all of these magazines and newspapers on her way to work. Unlike Joseph, everyone else was keen to read on whatever these so-called writers had to say about this HOT NEW ROMANCE.
They were little kids for god's sake!
Despite Joseph's opinions on the tabloids, no one was taking the news as bad as Stan.
"WHAT?! That little shyster is dating my great niece!?"
Although Joseph did found the man's rage a little misplaced. Gideon might be Stan's business nemesis, but he wasn't THAT bad. He was just a little kid with a big crush.
"I wonder what the new name will be for the power couple." Soos mused not paying his usual attention towards Stan, "Mabideon? Gideabel? Magidbeleon!"
'Who uses combined names for couples in real life?' The only time he had heard combined couple names was on the internet by fans that cared too much about their 'ships'. 'Seriously, Irene would never end up with Michael. It is obvious she loves Anakiss.'
Having his anger ignored by the others Grunkle Stan stomped angrily out of the shop.
"I didn't know! I didn't hear about it and plus, I told her not to." Dipper shouted towards his leaving Grunkle, jumping boats to avoid the old man's fury.
"Yeah, well it ends tonight." Stan reentered the room, having changed from his underwear to his work outfit in mere seconds. He was really fast when he wanted it to be. "I'm going right down to that little skunk's house; this is gonna stop RIGHT now!" And with that mighty declaration he slammed the shop's door and left.
"So that means work's done and we can go home now?" Joseph asked out-loud while everyone else just shrugged.
く==TwoDaysLater==
Mabel was pacing back and forward inside the living room.
She just had returned home after ANOTHER unwanted date with Gideon. It wasn't as if she hated him, she liked him but just wasn't interested in him that way. She saw him more like a friend/little sister. Yet every time she had tried to put a stop to these dates, Gideon would do something that would make it impossible for her to say no.
"..I mean, he's so nice, but.. I can't keep doing this. But I can't break his heart." Otherwise she would look like a bad person. "I have no way out!"
Adding insult to injury, Joseph asked her about her dates and kept on saying that she was very lucky to have a suitor that pampered so much with dinners, dancing and fireworks.
"What in the heck happened on that date?" Dipper cut in as he entered the living room interrupting her rambling.
"I don't know! I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone. It was like quick sand! Chubby quicksand!" She said while griping the shoulders of her brother, desperate for any sort of solution to her problem. And Dipper who thought Mabel was over-exaggerating as always tried to play down her worries.
"Mabel, come on. It's not like you're gonna have to marry Gideon." It was just a couple of dates; it wasn't like she was committing to spend her entire life with the little guy. But it seems the universe wanted to prove him wrong, when the very next moment Grunkle Stan appeared through the door frame.
"Great news, Mabel. You have to marry Gideon!"
"WHAT!?"
"It's all part of my long term deal with Buddy Gleeful." If the announcement wasn't bad enough, their great uncle was wearing a shirt with big bold blue letters with the words TEAM GIDEON on the front. "There's a lot of cash tied up in this thing. Plus I got this shirt."
Having heard enough, Mabel couldn't keep herself composed anymore and she ran away screaming.
"Geez. What is her problem?" Stan asked Dipper with absolutely no sense of awareness.
Dipper just rolled his eyes ignoring Stan and went after his sister probably went and hid on their empty room to pretend her problems wouldn't follow her. Once he arrived to the attic, he confirmed his suspicions when he saw Mabel on a corner hiding her head underneath her pink sweater.
"Oh no. Mabel..." Things were really serious if she was acting like this.
"Mabel's not here. She's in sweater town." She said from underneath the sweater.
"Are you gonna come out of sweater town?" The response he got? Just a tiny whine and a shake meaning no. Dipper really hated seeing her in this state. "Alright, enough is enough. If you can't break up with Gideon, I'll do it for you."
"You will?" She asked hopefully, taking a peek from inside Sweater Town just in time to see her brother nod. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" Mabel cheered as she gave him a couple of playful punches and finally a big hug of appreciation.
"Alright."
く==LaterThatNight==
After tracking down exactly were Gideon was, Dipper went to the most high-class club in town, aptly named THE CLUB, to talk with Gideon and put an end to this relationship that was causing his sister so much grief.
Seeing the boy sitting alone on a booth, Dipper knew this was the time to aboard him. Once he was near enough he cleared his throat catching the attention of the so-called psychic.
"Oh. Dipper Pines, how are you? You look good, you look good." He was greeted politely. Although they had never really talked with each other before, they had being "officially introduced" when Gideon went to pick-up Mabel for one of their dates.
"Thanks, you uh... Look, Gideon." Dipper hesitated for a second, not knowing how to phrase the news. He wanted to be direct and tell Gideoan that Mabel was weirded-out by him and that she didn't want to see him no more. But when he thought about it, that might just piss the little guy off. So instead he took a page out of Joseph's book and bended the truth a little bit. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Mabel isn't going to go on more dates with you."
"So what are you sayin'…exactly?" Gideon tried to ask in a calm and collected manner yet his couldn't stop his eye from twitching a bit.
"It is nothing about you." Dipper lied before the boy took offense. "She's grateful and had fun and all, but she can't go on this dates with you because…" He trailed off trying to come up with something that sounding convincing. "She kinda has a crush on someone else."
For ten long seconds, neither of the boys said anything; Gideon trying to process the revelation without blowing a fuss right there and then while Dipper wondered why he said what he did.
"You don't…say." Gideon finally broke the awkward silence while his eye twitch some more.
"You're not gonna like, freak out or anything, are ya?" Dipper asked worried that he screwed things up by opening his big mouth.
"Of course not. These things happen. You can't tell a heart what to do. Better let things become bygones, you know."
"So. Okay. Cool. Then again, sorry man, but uh, hey, thumbs up. Huh?" Dipper slowly backed away, not wanting nothing more that for this awkward moment to be over.
Once he was outside of THE CLUB, Dipper finally released a heavy sigh he didn't know he was holding.
"How'd it go?" Joseph who had been standing outside waiting for him to be done asked looking at Dipper expectantly. "Was he mad?" He had only come to accompany Dipper since it was already dark outside, but even he couldn't contain his curiosity, wanting to know the details of the break-up.
"I don't know. I hope I didn't screwed things up, you know?" Dipper admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, he's just a kid right. It's not like he has powers and will try to seek revenge."
"If he really had powers, he wouldn't be in this town trying to scam money out of gullible townsfolk and tourists." Unlike Joseph whose only excuse to do so was to keep his job at the Shack. "I'm sure that things will blow over in a few days, there is nothing to worry about."
く==EvenLaterThatNight==
Inside the confines of this dark room Gideon Gleeful panted heavily while looking at his own angry reflection in the mirror.
"Dipper Pines, you don't know what you've done!" How dare he say something like that to him! To tell him that his precious Mabel didn't want to see him no more and worst of all she was in love with somebody else!
Grabbing onto his bolo tie, he call forward the power of the secret amulet to levitate the objects in the room and explode all the light bulbs on his boudoir.
"You've just made the biggest mistake of your life!" He slammed the floating objects around, trashing the whole room in his tantrum. "Mable, MY MABEL could not possibly love anyone besides me!"
Could she?
Looking towards his door where he had pinned several pictures depicting Mabel, some of them from their dates, others… from times she wasn't aware of. Within one of these pictures, Gideon noticed the presence of another MAN who wasn't her brother or her great uncle Stan.
HIM!
The man who opened the door the first time he visited Mabel. The one they call Joseph Joestar!
Look at him! Tall, with long luscious hair, great physique and he was European from a rich family to boot! Surely he had use those features of his to catch Mabel's eye and ensnare her in his grasp, taking her away from her true love, Gideon!
And Dipper Pines! Oh how pleased he looked delivering such terrible news to him. It was obvious the little rat was working for the man. Probably glad to sell out his sister for the favors and protection the Brit could provide.
But nothing could protect Dipper Pines or that Joestar from the wrath of Gideon Gleeful.
"Dipper Pines! Joseph Joestar! You will pay for your impudence!" Using the power of the amulet, he burned away the images of both males, leaving only his darling angel intact.
く==TheNextDay==
Joseph swept the interior of the gift shop just like Stan had ordered. He was all alone since Wendy went away for her break an hour ago and still haven't reappeared. Sometimes he wondered if Stan was some type of dirty old man who employed the redhead just to have her around, because she barely did any work and almost always left early. There was no other explanation as to why he didn't fire her already.
Or maybe, his fellow teen just took advantage of the fact that Stand hated him and was his newest pack mule.
'Can't say I wouldn't have done the same.'
Despite of the monotony of the work and the unfairness of the situation Joseph didn't voice any of his usual complains, he couldn't muster it since that morning Mabel had recovered from whatever funk she had been and was back to be all smiles and rainbows.
Joseph usually found that type of things somewhat unbearable, but Mabel's cheerful attitude and care-free nature really had grown on him, and he was happy that she was back to normal.
Suddenly the phone besides the cash register rang snapping Jojo back to reality. Seeing as Wendy wasn't there to do her job, Joseph went up to the counter and picked-up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper." The voice on the other end talked with that distinctively annoying tone that was unique to Toby's.
"Oh hey Mr. Cardbaord Cut-Out Kisser! How've you been? Still a criminal against human decency?" Joseph would never let Toby live down the fact he kissed the cardboard cut-out of REAL news reporter Shandra Jimenez. Of the very few things he agreed with Stan was that no one owe the little creep an ounce of respect. "Sorry of accusing you of being a murderer by the way." Not.
After a whole 20 seconds of pregnant silence Toby finally answered.
"Water under the bridge! Say, we want to interview you and your little friend Dipper Pines."
"What for?"
"You see, you are slowly becoming quite the talk among the visitors of the Mystery Shack and our female reader would love to read about you to know you better."
"And Dipper?"
"Him? We want to ask him about his thoughts about the town and if he had seen anything unusual for our new debuting section on the paper."
"I see…"
"What about a meeting? Let's say, 412 Gopher Road."
"412 Gopher Road, got it!"
And with that Jojo finally hung the pone ending the call. Just in time for Dipper to come by and ask him.
"What was that all about?" He probably overheard part of the conversation and was interested to know since his name was mentioned.
"Toby Determined. He wants to interview me for some sort of "personal look into the life of" article, and you for your opinions and thought about the strange happening in town."
"Really? That's awesome!" He cried excited for the possibility of finally sharing his theories to a readership that cared to hear. A shame that Jojo had to put a stop to that.
"Not awesome. More like a set-up!" He announced somewhat over-dramatically. I mean, how many opportunities does one have to say something like that in their lives? "I can smell it form a mile away!"
"Do you think he wants revenge for trying to incriminate him of murder?" Dipper proposed worriedly. He wasn't ready to deal with a vendetta of the so-called newsman.
"I don't know, if that was the case he would've ask for Mabel to come as well." She was also there when the accusation and arrest attempt began. "But he only asked for the two of us." Who could them both angered in the last couple of days?
"What about Manly Dan." Dipper offered. "Maybe he wants revenge for defeating him in arm-wrestling?"
"Perhaps, but he doesn't look like the type of guy who would try this sort of underhanded attempt of a trap." If anything Joseph expected the man to kick open the door and scream his demand for a rematch.
"Well, whoever it is, what are we gonna do about it?" If this was a trap then they better think up of a strategy to help them confront whoever…
"Accept the invitation of course!" Joseph answered with a toothy grin.
"What?!"
"Look Dipper, we don't know who this might be or their motives, nor we know what they are capable of with we do not fall for their set-up. They could try going after Mabel just to get at us."
"I'll never let them do such a thing!"
"Neither do I, so that is why we are gonna go for it." Joseph then placed a hand on Dipper's shoulder to reassure him. "So don't worry too much, since we know it is a trap that gives us an edge."
"But what if they have a weapon?"
"And I have Hamon!" Joseph lifted his fist as it sparked with wave energy. "Besides I dealt with punks with weapons before! Haven't I told you about the time I stop some armed robbers from kidnapping my Uncle Speedwagon?"
"No!" Dipper responded both alarmed and intrigued at the same time.
"How about we prepare for this meeting and I tell you all about it!"
く==LaterThatEvening==
Both Dipper and Joseph arrived at the designated place of the meeting: 412 Gopher Road.
"Seriously, who came up with the names of the streets and roads?" Joseph wondered out-loud.
く==Meanwhile==
Inside a hidden cave underground the block of solid peanut brittle that trapped the body of Quentin Trembley, the eighth-and-a-half President of the United States, shook a little.
Almost as if it had sneezed.
く==412GopherRoad==
"Remember the plan?" Joseph looked down to Dipper.
"You go in and kick ass and I stay behind monitoring the situation as back-up just in case." Dipper relayed the plan while rising up a can of Bear Mace. It didn't quite have the same punch as regular pepper spray, but it still worked well enough to disorient an enemy.
"Don't forget the cellphone to call the police or an ambulance for these guys after I'm done with them." Joseph said confidently as he cracked his knuckles reading for a rumble.
"Be safe."
"I always am."
And with confident steps Joseph entered the large warehouse building.
"I'm here!" Joseph announcement echoed through the whole place which was near pitch black. "Anyone here?" He stepped forward, he knew someone was waiting for him and could attack in any second.
Suddenly the door behind him closed seemingly by itself, startling Joseph a bit.
"This is a strange place for an interview." Jojo joked, wondering how much theatrics would be before the guy revealed himself.
And as if his words were magic, the lights turned on in sequence revealing a swirling chair at the other end of the warehouse.
"Hello friend." The distinctive voice of Gideon broke the came before the chair swerved around to reveal the tiny psychic.
"Gideon?!" Jojo was honestly surprised, why would wittle ol' Gideon want to set up a meeting like this?
"Joseph Joestar. How long have been livin' in this town? A week, two? You like it here? Enjoy the scenery?" The Young Psychic asked like they were having small-talk, but it was quite obvious there was an ominous edge underneath his words.
"What is this all about?" Joseph cut to the chase; he really didn't want to spend his evening waiting for the boy to finish his theatrics.
"You know damn well what this is about!" The boy answered with barely contained rage, yet what betrayed him the most were his eyes full of fury.
"Is this about Mabel?" Because she was the only connection that had any relevance between the two of them that he could think of. "I'm sorry that she broke off with you, but this sort of things just happen."
"LIAR! YOU took her away from me!" He accused while jumping off the chair in an attempt to look intimidating, which failed against Joseph who was literally twice as big as the little boy. "She is MY peach dumplin'!"
'Oh boy, he is one of those.' Yeah, one of those guys who really, REALLY couldn't handle a break-up and they start blaming everyone and everything around for their problems. Joseph's only alternative was to defuse the situation and help the boy see reason. "Look Gideon, getting angry won't solve-"
"Shut it!" Gideon cut him off and used his amulet to levitate the Englishboy from the ground and sent him flying towards one of the many boxes that this building housed.
"What the-?!" Sitting on the floor with his back against a dented box, the teen couldn't believe what just happened.
"Readin' minds isn't all I can do."Gideon said with a creepy smile, enjoying the power he wielded over his much larger opponent.
"You have actual powers?!" Joseph was dumbfounded he never expected Gideon to have such abilities. He believed he was just a performer that scammed people with cold reading.
"Surprised? You haven't seen anything yet." And with a simple gesture of his arm he opened the boxes in the warehouse and levitated every single piece of merchandize imaginable.
"Holy SH*T!" Ok, maybe he was little over his head on this one, but he could think of something get out of this jam right? Besides he still had Dipper as back-up who could call for help and…
"Leave him alone!"
Or he could just jump right into the fray with little to no regard to how serious the situation actually was.
"Oh that's cute." Gideon mocked as he used his powers to levitate Dipper and disarm him of the Bear Spray. "I thought you decided not to come. Well, you save the effort of looking for you."
"Put him down!" Joseph demanded as he stood up from the floor ready to fight Gideon even if he was just a little kid.
"As you wish!" The psychic used his powers to throw Dipper towards Joseph; thankfully the teen had been ready to catch him before he could get hurt. "You two will pay for what you did."
"What did we do?" Dipper demanded a clear answer.
"YOU help turn Mabel against me!" Gideon shouted with an ugly sneer adorning his chubby face.
"You did that yourself!" Dipper retorted. "You made her uncomfortable with your advances!"
"LIES!" The little boy continued to shout as he threw heavy boxes and pieces of merchandize towards them.
"Dodge!" Joseph commanded as he help swap away some of the random projectiles. "To the door!" he had no plan but to escape out of there and hope they could think of a way of dealing with Gideon.
"You're not going anywhere!" Gideon picked them up and then launched them to opposite side of the warehouse making them crash into more merchandize.
"Grunkle Stan was right about you, you ARE a monster!" Dipper managed to shout despite the pain he was feeling from the crash.
"Mabel is mine!" Gideon responded not even registering Dipper's words anymore.
On the other side, Joseph was looking around the sprawled merchandize for something he could use to stop Gideon or could allow them to escape from him yet nothing seemed useful.
"Dolls, coffee cups, pins, nothing but garbage!" Frustrated he threw everything around until his hand fell upon something unexpected. "What the-?!"
They were a pair of plastic balls connected via a black string; it reminded him of the throwing weapon known as Bolas, but these were far smaller.
"Clackers? I thought these were banned in several states." Apparently they were legal in Oregon, who knew! "Plastic doesn't conduct Hamon very well." If only the balls were made of metal, then they could store some the energy in them but with these he found the Ripples would only travel through the string.
"It's better than nothing!" Turning around, he saw Dipper desperately charging towards Gideon with a baseball bat, but he was only being toyed with, and ended up being disarmed and levitated one more.
"She's never gonna date you, man!" Especially not now when the little creep has shown them his true colors.
"I don't want to hear more of your lies!" Then his eyes fell upon something rather useful. "I'll make sure you never lie to me ever again." He levitated a pair of lamb sheers. "Now open that mouth of yours!"
"DIPPER!" Joseph screamed in panic. He couldn't let the poor boy get hurt much less mutilated, otherwise he could never forgive himself. Acting out of instinct alone, he charged the clackers with Hamon as he threw them. The wave energy tensed the string making it far easier to throw and travel farther than normal.
Unfortunately Joseph's cry alerted Gideon of the teen's attack. Gideon managed to barely lean out of the way making the hard clacker balls graze him and leave a red hot mark on the side of the face. This was enough to break the little psychic's concentration and his grip over Dipper and the shears.
"Y-YOU…YOU DARED HURT MY BEAUTIFUL FACE?!" Forgetting all about Dipper, Gideon concentrated his fury solely on Joseph. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, YOU FILTHY TEABAG!"
"I'll have you know that I prefer American Coffee over Tea, you Tosser!" Joseph shot back, not appreciating the slur or the stereotyping.
"SHUT UP!" Gideon concentrated the power of the amulet to grab Joseph slammed him into the wall.
"AHG!" Jojo yelped as he felt intense pain on his back.
"You want more? Take this!" Gideon lifted him up again and slammed him into the ceiling and then unto the floor.
"JOSEPH!" Dipper cried from the floor looking up at his friend being tossed around the place like a rag dog. "STOP IT, YOU'LL KILL HIM!"
"That's the plan!" The little creep mocked as he held Joseph up in the air, inspecting his handiwork and enjoying the pained look on the Brit's face.
'Impossible, I can´t…!' He thought frantically. After being grabbed Joseph tried to use Hamon to stick to the wall to avoid being toss around or to energize his muscles to overpower the invisible grip and break free, but none of it worked.
'Useless, my Hamon is useless!' And even if it were to work, his breathing was ragged which made it impossible to properly generate Hamon. "D-Dip…per…" He barely managed to utter between his labored panting and the pain he was feeling. "run…away…!"
"No! I can't leave you behind!" Any other time, Jojo would've admired and respected the boy's loyalty and bravery but in the current conditions he thought of him as the biggest fool.
"Dip-ack!" But his pleads were interrupted when he felt the force start to tighten around his throat.
"JOSEPH!" Dipper cried once more before glaring at Gideon. "Leave him alone!"
"Don't you fret, my friend!" Gideon answered too all too giddy. "Once I'm done with him, you are next."
"NO!" Dipper was trembling, the sheer hopelessness of the situation finally getting to him, making him despair. 'I have to think of something!' Joseph had named him the brains of the team, yet nothing came to mind. Angered he smacked a fist unto the floor. 'What am I even good for?'
Everything was looking bleak for the two heroes.
That is until a very familiar voice shouted through the warehouse.
"Gideon! We have to talk!"
It was Mabel, the best (or worst depending on who you asked) person that could've shown up in that precise moment.
"M-Mabel. My marshmalla." Gideon greeted surprised by her sudden appearance while trying to recover some composure. Even so his invisible grip on the still floating Joseph remained. "What are you doin' here?"
"I'm sorry Gideon, but I can't be your marshmallow. I needed to be honest and tell you that myself." She began sounding too calm for the situation she had stumbled in.
"I-I don't understand." Gideon squeezed his bolo tie harder, the same way his little heart was been squeezed by her words, while subconsciously squeezing Joseph even tighter too.
"Mabel! This isn't the best time to be brutally honest with him!" Her brother reprimanded her, very obviously worried about the choking teen still in mid-air.
Seemingly ignoring Dipper, Mabel approached Gideon and took his hands unto hers. "Hey, but we can still be makeover buddies, right? Wouldn't you like that?"
No, not really. Gideon wanted Mabel for himself, but having her lovingly touching hands with him was enough to melt him like butter. "Really?"
That was the exact reaction Mabel was hoping for.
"No, not really!" In one fluid motion she was able to swipe the amulet away from him, rendering him powerless. The sudden lost of his powers meant that Joseph was finally free and ended up falling into the floor desperately gasping for air with only one thought on his mind.
'F*** you Gideon. Just, f*** you!'
"You were like, attacking my family, what the heck?!" Whatever guilt Mabel may have been feeling before back in the Shack where she had a heart-to-heart with Wendy about her break-up disappeared the instant she saw Gideon threaten to kill her loved ones.
"My tie! Give it back!" He frantically tried to snatch back his amulet, otherwise he would remain with no means of defense or to enact his revenge, but Mabel decided to throw the bolo tie away and towards Dipper who caught it without difficulty.
"Not so powerful without this, are you?" Dipper teased feeling justified to do so after the trashing both he and Joseph just received. He had expected insults, pleads or even begrudging surrender; not the little troll screeching and ramming them both throw the window, making Dipper lose the grip on the amulet before the two of them began falling down the cliff.
"DIPPER!" Mabel was the first one to react and quickly scoped the bolo tie and jumped the window after her brother.
"MABEL NO!" With barely any strength left, Joseph ran towards the window horrified at her suicidal actions. He knew the building had been on top of a tall cliff and that a fall of that height would most likely kill anyone.
For the first time in many years he prayed to God, asking him to save the both of them.
Looking down the broken window, he saw not a ghastly scene of mangled bodies, but the miracle he had asked for. Both Mable and Dipper were fine, a Gideon too for that matter, thanks to Mabel unexpected ability to use the amulet to levitate the three of them down to the floor, and Joseph released a sigh of utter relief he had been holding before he slumped back against the wall and fall on the floor, the last of his energy and adrenaline finally fading away.
"Thank god they're okay…"
く==20MinutesLater==
Joseph was stirred awake by the sound of Mabel's cries.
"JoJo! Please wake up!"
"Mabel! Don't shake him! Don't you see he's hurt?"
"Please open your eyes!"
"Mabel!"
"Hey, can't a guy have five minutes of sleep around here." Joseph interrupted the soon to become bickering, slowly opening his eyes which felt real heavy at that moment.
"JoJo! Are you okay?" Mabel asked with worry written all over her face.
"I'm fine. I'm no stranger of having my arse kicked." The downed teen try to make light of the situation despite the terrible soreness and pain he was feeling.
"I thought you said you never lose." Mabel said a little less serious than before.
"I can get beat up and still win you know." He wanted to laugh but it hurt too much to even try. "What about you guys? You Ok? "
"Mabel is completely fine and I just got some bruises and some sore muscles." He got away rather unscathed, even more so since the one Gideon was aiming for was Joseph.
"Good to hear, arhg!" Joseph winced in sudden pain.
"Joseph! Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere." Was Joseph's attempt of a cheeky answer.
"Can you use your Ripple Breathing? To make the pain go away."
"I can try."
What followed where several minutes of tense silence where the only sound was Joseph's efforts to perform his Hamon Breathing. It took a while but he managed to dull the pain enough for him to stand back up, even so he would still feel like crap in the morning.
"Are you sure you don't need a hospital?" Mabel asked worried. She believed in Joseph but she wanted to make sure there really wasn't anything wrong with him.
"I'll be fine, although I might miss work tomorrow." He only hoped that Stan wasn't an ass about it. "Come one, I'll walk you home and on the way you can tell me what happened with Gideon." Before he lost consciousness he remembered he was spared of becoming a smear on the floor.
As they made their way back to the Mystery Shack, the twins told them that after landing safely, Mable renounced any friendship or feelings she had for the little creep and destroy his amulet so he could never use its powers ever again only to have him swear revenge against the Pines Family and Joseph before disappearing into the woods.
"So we won at the end!" Dipper said, although to him it didn't feel like one. "I still feel that we should've gone after him and maybe report him to the authorities."
"They wouldn't believe us though." Joseph pointed out in a solemn tone. Not only did they have no evidence of what happened or proof that Gideon could use "Magic" to try and killed them, the Psychic was the town newest sweetheart and idol so it was his words against them. In fact they were lucky that Gideon hadn't decided to call the cops on them instead.
"This totally sucks!" Mabel complained the unfairness of it all.
"I know."
After what felt like a eternal trek for Joseph, they finally made it to the Shack. Unfortunately that was only the half-way point for the English boy who still had to walk all the way back to Abuelita's.
"Thanks for being here for us Joseph." Dipper said grateful for everything his friend did that night.
"No problem Dib, and thanks for sticking up for me." Joseph then pulled his fist up as a signal and Dipper follow up with his for an epic manly fist bump of respect. That was before Joseph grabbed him and drilled his knuckles on top of his head through the hat. "But next time; think things through before jumping to help!"
"Ok, ok! I promise." Satisfied by that answered, JoJo finally let him go. "Good night, Joseph!"
"Good night Dipper." Joseph waved him goodbye before he turned towards Mabel. "Can I speak with you for sec, Mabel?"
"Of course." She answered as she too waved her brother waiting for him to go in so she could be alone with Jojo. "So what's up?"
"Mabel…" Joseph began somewhat hesitant as he knelt down so they could see eye to eye. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" She was honestly confused by the sudden apology, as far as she knew he had nothing to apologize for. "I-I should be the one who has to apologize." She said with a sudden tremble in her voice. She didn't want to think about it before, but now it was impossible not to. It was her fault that Dipper and Joseph were hurt by Gideon.
"Don't ever think this is your fault Mabel." He put a stop to those thoughts immediately. "These injuries are mine alone."
"But you…!" She tried to retort but she was silenced by the older boy when he placed a finger up to her lips, which caused her to blush a bit by the sudden contact.
"I was the one who walked Dipper and I into Gideon's hands, knowing it was a trap." He had been so confident he could take anyone on with his wits and his abilities with Hamon, but after tonight he wasn't so sure now if that was ever enough. "Because of my cockiness I put your brother in danger's way even though I promised to protect him and you, and for that I want to ask for your forgiveness."
"Jo-JoJo…" Tears began falling from her eyes and dripping into the floor like miniature cascades. How could she not accept his apologies and forgive him after such honest words and repentant look on his face? Not being able to hold back her feelings she burrowed her face into his chest and sob softly, while Joseph's strong arms enveloped her in a tender hug.
She had a dream like this once, except that in it she hadn't been crying and JoJo didn't looked so upset or injured. It was ironic how her dreams of being in his arms came true and she couldn't enjoy it one bit.
After what felt like forever, Mabel finally stopped sobbing while her eyes remained a little red from all the crying, while Joseph looked far more composed but the hurt in his eyes betrayed his cool exterior and the hug came to an end.
"I forgive you Jo-Joseph…" She finally said just in case so there weren't any doubts about it. "I could never stay mad at you." Even though she never felt mad at him in the first place.
"Glad to hear."He gave her a small smile, that she secretly found adorable. "Also I wanted to talk to you about something." He dropped the smile but didn't sound as serious as when he was asking for forgiveness.
"Yes?"
"I while ago while I was sweeping I couldn't help but overhear you and Dipper talk about something…" He said cautiously trying to slowly bring in the subject, but it had the opposite effect of what he intended.
'He overheard us?' Mabel was internally panicking. Fearing that he might've overhear them talking about how she had a crush on him! She was mortified. What would he think of her? How would this revelation change things between them? And more importantly, could he ever return her feelings?
She began trembling in anticipation and trepidation.
"Yes, I heard about how you have been feeling left out when we all hang together in the Shack." Joseph finally said, putting a sudden stop at her wild thoughts and imagination.
"W-What?" For a second she didn't know if to feel relieved that her crush on his remained secret of disappointed for how underwhelming the reveal was.
"About how you never get to do the things you like that are girly, yes?" Joseph reminded her, totally unaware of her internal dilemma.
"Uh-huh…" She could recalled saying something like that, yes.
"Well, I'm not exactly fond of things that are very girly, but I wouldn't mind doing them with you." If only to not have her feel forgotten and left out. "If you want we can… I don't know… do each other's hair and stuff."
"Really?" She asked excited by the prospect. For the longest time since she had arrived she wanted someone whom she could fix and style hair with. Not to mention she also had been daydreaming of caressing that long luscious hair of his too. "We can do make-up, manicure and knit sweaters too?"
"S-sure, whatever you like." Joseph confirmed trying his best to keep his doubts and second thoughts of what he was getting into away for Mabel's sake.
"Oh my gosh JoJo, you are the best!" She hug him once more making him wince in pain.
"D-Don't I k-know it." Despite the pain he was glad that he could brighten her day. "You better get inside, it's getting late." And he still needed to walk all the way to Soos' house.
"Wait! Before you go I got something for you." Mabel rummaged through her pockets before she pulled a familiar-looking toy.
"Clackers?"
"The same one's you used on Gideon." She clarified. "I want to give you these back. As a trophy for tonight. "
"But I didn't even stop Gideon with these." In fact he wanted to say how they weren't very useful at all, but Mabel interrupted with a shake of her head.
"But you still saved Dipper with them. I think that makes them very special."
"I guess you're right." Joseph smiled looking at the toy with new found respect. "Thanks for the gift Mabel."
"Thank you for being here with us." Mabel said as he leaned in an placed a quick kiss on his cheek before she quickly turned around. "Goodnight JoJo!" And rushed towards the house, not wanting him to see how red she had become after that.
"Good night." He waved, not seeing too deeply into the gesture. He supposed that she was grateful for helping save his brother despite she being the one who saved them both in them end.
The trip back to Soos' felt much longer than ever thanks to his sore muscles and troubling thoughts circling though his head.
Hamon, his ace in the hole for getting him out of tight situation had not only failed, but it was useless against Gideon; had it not been for some extremely good luck on their part both Dipper and him would've died for sure.
Joseph should be the one who protected them, not the other way around and he failed to live-up to his promise. They had been lucky this time, but next time they were in a jam who knows what could happen? And if Dipper or Mabel were seriously hurt and he could've done something to prevent it, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.
"I'm not strong enough."
く==ToBeContinued==
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out…
『Cyphers』
『L nwzdp nlww htes oples mctyrd qzces yph opepcxtyletzy.』
『Uzdpas'd yph epnsytbfp: Esp Nwlnvpc Mzzxpclyr.』
Author Notes:
Super speedy update, yeah!
Not many changes from the actual canon, but very significant ones. Attitudes, motivations and character relationships are now changed forever.
Also how do you like the new line break I'm using?
く==LineBreak==